A new life
by zacbradez
Summary: Freelancers are the best of the best, along with Spartans there names are only whispered. When a Marine comes along with a hidden past and the chance to prove that he belongs among those of legend he sacrifices himself to save his team. He is given a choice... Leave and die or Join project freelancer?
1. Presumed dead

Hey guys Zacbradez here. So I would like to thank Nitus07 for his review.  
I have gone through and fixed the things I could find, if there is anything  
else that needs to be done message me and I will fix it.

* * *

A group of marines were heading out to their last fight before they were shipped home. All the soldiers were in a good mood, all talking, all but one.

"Hey kid, come in join the fun." the Squad leader called out "we are nearly home! You should be celebrating with us! Right guys?" the response was a mighty "hoorah!" He turned back to the lone soldier who looked up him his piercing blue eyes pinning the leader to the spot.

"Listen kid..." he said quietly. "I know you don't think you fit in here. You prefer to get things done alone, a lone wolf, a wild card. Hell you're the best in the squad, possibly the best the army has seen in years. Yet we know nothing about you. Hell we don't even know your name… We have to resort to calling you Wolf" he turned to walk back to the other side of the ship

"It's up to you but it would be nice." he was cut off "There is still one battle left, once we are truly going home then I'll celebrate."

Over a speaker hidden somewhere within the bodies. The pilot called out "Drop time in three minutes, buckle up boys we are coming in hot!"

A soldier called out to the leader "Say cap, what's the purpose of this mission?"

"Locate and extract boys. Now this may possibly become a fire fight, so don't be afraid of shooting these covies. Once we're done here you people will be drinking your asses off, losing your minds and probably won't even remember this day."

"Hoorah!"

"Let's go"

They ran out of the ship ready for battle. Only a few grunts were patrolling the area. They were quickly taken out.

"Hey Cap this might be an easy mission!" one of the soldiers yelled out.

The squad continued to move throughout the base finding very little to no resistance. The leader pulled out an energy tracker to locate the Item required. They reached the last door within the base he looked back to count the amount of people within the base all were there but one

"Anyone seen Wolf" the squad all shook their heads, the leader shrugged and turned back around only to see 'Wolf' sitting a few meters away cleaning one of his knives "worried about me cap?" he asked with a hint of humor In his voice.

"JESUS KID! Don't do that!" he shook his head "Anyway according to this piece of crap the artifact is in the next room so let's finish this."

They walked slowly towards the door. The tension was building… They went through the door only to find... The smallest artifact they had ever seen with absolutely no guards.

"What the fuck! No troops nothing? This is just bullshit!"

"Careful guys check your radar I have a bad feeling about this… Wolf you see anything?"

Wolf who had been looking at the back of the room yelled out "Nothing Cap" he was just about to turn when he saw what looked like a large group of glass like elites crouched in the corner, he was about to shrug it off until he saw one of the move a few inches. "FUCK! AMBUSH GET THE ARTIFACT AND EVERYONE OUT NOW CAPTAIN!" he started firing his assault rifle at the Invisible Aliens.

The squad leader heard the shooting and looked up to see a huge amount of elites, coming out of camo "FUCK EVERYONE GET OUT NOW!" there was a mad scuffle to the door but eventually they all made it out In one piece, all except one. "WOLF GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE NOW!"

He ran to the door looked back and shook his head sadly "There are too many. I'll hold them off for as long as I can, now go!" the leader shook his head "I'm not leaving you behind Wolf. No one gets left behind, you can't expect me to leave you here do you?" Again Wolf smiled sadly "You don't have a choice" he pressed a button forcing the door to shut separating them.

The leader heard his last words "If I survive ill find you I promise, otherwise… you know what fuck it"

Wolf turned back around "Let's do this"

His Assault rifle quickly ran out of ammo after the first 6 or 7 Elites forcing to pull out his pistols downing another ten before they too ran out of ammo.

"Fuck" he pulled out his two knives" YOU WANT SOME? "The remaining elite converged on him. Quickly surrounding him, _this is it_ he thought sadly. "Well If I fall I'm dragging everyone down with me." He charged towards the elites, knives shining in the dull light. The next few minutes were just chaos blood rained down around the loan human who was killing like he was death himself.

That was the first time the elites felt fear facing this lone soldier who seemed to not know when to give up, slashing his way through their ranks like a demon. There were only 5 left now as he neared the majority.

An elite on the brink of death managed to pull out his rifle and shot Wolf in the back causing him to drop to his knees but he slowly rose up and continued to the last few. He dispatched the quickly and then fainted due to blood loss.

One week later

Status report:

Name – Unknown

Family - Unknown

Age – 25

Rank – Unknown

Status - M.I.A presumably killed on last mission serving the UNSC after staying behind so that the rest of his squad escape from the base they were situated at.

The Squad leader finished writing his report on Wolf with tears in his eyes. "You sacrificed yourself for us. I will never forget you, Rest in Peace Wolf." The soldier without a name had finally died. God knows when the Military will see another like him

* * *

_Meanwhile in the middle of space a lone soldier woke up in a hospital bed. Aboard a giant ship._

_Where am I? I should be dead that plasma shot was definitely a killing shot…_ while he was contemplating his survival a man who looked to be African American quietly walked into the room where he was currently located. He coughed quietly to get his attention.

"JESUS CHRIST!" Wolf yelled out shocked not noticing the man until that point

"Good evening, I am the Counselor, now if you will follow me I am taking you to the main deck to see the Director"

They walked together in silence, when they reached it Wolf noticed a Man in a black suit, with bright green eyes, glasses and a goatee.

"Good evening Wolf, may I call you Wolf?" he said in a heavy southern accent.

"Yes you can, everyone else does." Wolf responded somewhat cautious considering that he was on a unknown ship in unknown territory.

The man began speaking again "I am the Director of Project Freelancer. Do you know how we found you?"

Wolf shrugged "I'm guessing I had a few dead elites around me in a building?"

The Director nodded to himself "That was a bit more than a few elites. You met the record for the most elites killed in an hour that was set thirteen years ago by the Spartan Sierra 117."

_God dammit I'm still being compared to him! _Wolf thought.

"Well that's just great." he said out loud feeling pissed off at the constant comparison between the Master Chief and himself. The director looked at him with a little interest but then moved on. "At the moment you have two options, the first is that you go back to your home planet, and continue living your life however you want to."

"What's the second?"

"You can join this program, we can offer you the best equipment, training and any other supplies you may need"

Wolf nodded "well I have nothing left for me, my home planets destroyed" this news caused the director to blink in surprise "so I'll take option two."

The director nodded "Very well, Councilor take this soldier to his new room"

They walked together while the councilor explained what the goals of Project freelancer are, they passed a hallway that contained rooms that each had an American state on it, and two empty ones. "These are the top eight Freelancers' rooms, now if you will follow me"

They passed some separate corridors and reached a room at the end of a hallway. Inside was a large area with a king sized bed, lamps, a dining area and in the corner was an area full of technological things.

He walked over to it to see what he now 'owned.' There was a holographic projection area and an area next to it which had a sealed off containment area.

The councilor motioned for him to go inside. He walked into it and was surrounded by holographic menus.

A voice was heard over a speaker that was hidden somewhere within the room.

**"Hello my name is F.I.L.L.I.S within this chamber you are required to select your new armor, along with a close combat weapon."**

_Okay let's see what they have _he thought. Scrolling through the menu he decided on the fotus helm and armor.

They materialized on his body the armor black as night along with a red secondary, as it appeared an eerie dark blue color showed mixed in with the red shown.

But that disappeared quickly after a few seconds, the helmet appeared in his hands, it was the same color as his armor although the Visor was a deep blue and the color seemed to have multiple layers.

**"This type of armor is a proto-type, it can change its shape and form other types of armor causing the ability to hide in plain sight to be a useful technique, and also the color of the visor and armor colors can be edited whenever you believe it is needed"**

"Nice" he said putting the helmet aside, next he went through the next menu looking for close combat weapons, he chose a small bar after reading its abilities. Using holographic technology it had the ability to make hard-light knives, bo-staffs and any other close combat weapon that he could think of. They came in multiple colors so he chose black. As it appeared he asked F.I.L.L.I.S for another one.

**"Of course" **another one appeared within his hand although it was white.

He walked out of the chamber to see the Councilor standing next to the bed, holding out Wolf's old knives he said. "We thought that these would be a reminder of your past life, you now have to choose a new name, Wolf is to well known by the UNSC for this decision so if you will give a name we can continue."

Wolf looked up from his old knives. After some thought he came up with his new name "How about Colorado?"

The councilor nodded "very well. You have thirty minutes until there is a training session on between the top free-lancers. You will have an initiation session in the next few days so I suggest you see what they are capable of."

The newly named Colorado sat down on his bed thinking about his new life, the thirty minutes passed quickly. So Colorado traveled off to see the training session" changing his amour to that of the soldiers to blend in and hide his identity.

**_Meanwhile…_**

The top 8 were getting ready for their multiple sparing sessions. The first scenario was close combat, first half no weapons second half… well that's a different story

The first pair up were Texas and Carolina, there rivalry giving them a lot more to fight for than the others. As they were about to start a normal low ranking soldier walked in wearing white amour and sat down on the sidelines watching them.

He was given a few curious looks by everyone there but then was ignored.

The fight started between the Light Blue and Black agent

Colorado, the white soldier was looking at the others who seemed to be placing bets. Once they were done the Tan colored one yelled out to the light blue agent "COME ON CAROLINA YOU CAN DO IT!" while an agent in black armor with a yellow stripes yelled out "TEXAS SMASH HER!"

The two agents started their fight. Kicks and punches were thrown but they were mostly blocked. The match continued like this until a buzzer went off indicating the end of the round.

Colorado who had been studying there fight style was thinking to himself "To slow" he muttered. Miraculously an agent in light purple armor with a green stripes heard him. "You think you can do better than them? I doubt you can even take on me!" The now identifiable female agent yelled at him.

The others had noticed that one of their comrades was having a go at the soldier "Hey calm down South, what did they do?" asked the black and yellow one. "That bitch just said that he is better than those two Wash!"

"And?"

"I said that he wouldn't be able to even beat me..." All the agents looked in-between south and Colorado not sure what to do. The Recruit spoke up "I can beat you and ill prove it…. Just don't be such a bitch about it."

"That's it! Come here you dickhead!" it took three agents to hold her back.

"Save it for the match." One of them said as they set up the ring for the fight between Colorado and South, Colorado waited patiently while South couldn't stop moving. They were allowed to fight now, the scoreboard displaying the names _South Dakota _and _Soldier_. They each got into a ready position with the others on the sideline. "I bet ya 50 bucks that the soldier won't last for a minute." Washington stated to his friends. They all agreed with him, except Texas who put down 50 for the soldier." They stared at her as she shrugged and looked towards the arena as the match begun.

South ran forward only to be hit in the face by Colorado who hadn't moved. She came at him again but this time he dropped under her punch and swept her leg knocking her to the ground. "You won't win, you're to rash" She screamed in rage running at him again. Underneath his helmet he smiled. _She is making this to easy_ he thought as he spun out of the way and slammed his fist into her helmet the force of the punch knocking her out.

Everyone present, except Texas looked at him in shock as he walked away. "Holy shit… That was not expected!" Wash yelled out as he handed the money to Tex. They walked up to South unsure of what to say. Finally York spoke up "How did that even happen? A normal soldier shouldn't be able to take down a freelancer like that... I mean we all know that south is rash and has to control her temper but still she is a good fighter, even when she is angry."

They all looked towards the door that Colorado had excited from wondering who he actually was.


	2. Initiation

The next morning anyone close to the living quarters could hear a loud banging.

"GODAMMIT WHY DID I SHOW HER UP LIKE THAT?" Colorado shouted. _It doesn't matter now I guess I will just have to work with it and hope she doesn't hate me._ As he left his room he set his armor to look like the basic white armor like it was yesterday. Joining the other soldiers in the food hall he managed to learn the names of the freelancers along with what they were known for and how to identify them. After a 30 minutes Colorado heard F.I.L.L.I.S' voice **"Agent Colorado please report to Training Room for initiation."** Excusing himself he ran off getting a few curious looks from a few of the soldiers.

Colorado rounded the corner and stopped for a few seconds trying to remember his way. Realising he was lost he cursed and was about to head to a computer to ask F.I.L.L.I.S but heard a voice.

"Hey new guy!" looking back he saw one of the soldiers running up to him. "My names Andy and I was wondering where you were heading"

Colorado sighed "I was trying to find the training center"

"Want to watch the fight huh? What was the new freelancers name… Colorado? I wonder what he is like. Hopefully he respects those underneath him" he muttered the last part.

"What do you mean?" Colorado asked curiously as they walked passed a hanger where a female pilot was yelling at people.

"Most. If not all the Freelancers Agents

"Anyway I'll show you the way" walking through many corridors Colorado learnt about the history of project freelancer and about the type of work they do. As they reached the training room Andy realized something.

"Hey I never got your name." Colorado smiled slightly.

"Agent Colorado at your service" pulling a mock salute. He chuckled as he watch Andy faceplant.

"Thanks for the help Andy ill talk to you another time" with that he switched his amour to its original setting. Not noticing once again that his amour was mixed with blue for a few seconds.

When he entered the room he had a large sense of déjà vu. The freelancers were all conversing at the back of the room and only looked at him briefly for a few seconds before looking back and continuing their own conversations until the Director walked to the middle of the room.

"Agent Colorado will be tested throughout the next few hours in close combat armed and unarmed, Firearms, Agility and survivability" he announced.

"Each of you will choose how and when you are going to join in as his opposition. To begin we will start with unarmed close combat"

"Well we might as well get this over with…" York muttered as both Washington and Maine got up with him.

On a nearby screen their names flashed for a few seconds then disappeared.

"**Round one begin"**

Washington ran in first throwing a left hook, followed by an elbow strike. Both were easily dodged by Colorado stepping out of the way. Ducking down he swept wash off his feet and then kicked him back to the others.

_Enhanced strength? Cool… _Colorado thought as looked interested at how far a single kick could knock back a fully armored soldier.

After a brief look at each other York and Maine ran forward together. Each using different techniques.

"Ya know… if you guys worked as a team you may have a chance!" Colorado said. As he dodged most of their attacks his smile could be heard through his voice. By directing most of their attacks into each other he quickly wore out them both out. He ran forward spinning and slamming his elbow into York's helmet knocking him out. He then turned only to see Maine's fist in his face.

"Damn Maine! How are you so strong?" North called out

Colorado who had been knocked into a wall close by slowly got up. He had an idea, Running at the towering agent he through a left hook only to have it grabbed. As Maine twisted his arm **(think the fight in season 10)** he locked his legs and then jumped surprising the giant. By locking one of his legs around his neck and the other around his chest he managed to pull of an arm-bar on the surprised Freelancer.

The others looking on were shocked "No one has ever done that before…" Carolina said as they then looked on at the fight.

Colorado saw his arm-bar wasn't working so he swung himself around Maine jumping on his back and putting him in a tight rear-naked choke. As Maine tried to pull him off he turned his body so that they were back to back. He then grabbed the bottom of the giant's mask and using the suits strength he threw Maine over his shoulder into the ground, he then reapplied his choke knocking him out. Looking around he saw Washington who was just getting up and York who sighed before running up to attack Colorado, The fight lasted for a few minutes only because Colorado danced around each of York's attacks, he eventually slipped behind the freelancer and used another rear-naked choke causing York to fall unconscious.

"He really loves choking people doesn't he? North muttered quietly getting a nod from the others.

Walking up to Wash Colorado sighed before using his knee to knock him back to the ground.

"Next" Colorado joked as the others looked at him.

After carrying the others to the side C.T pulling out her knife volunteered up for his armed combat.

While this was happening South was lost in thought _I Have heard his voice before… but where?_

As C.T walked up Colorado laughed "A knife? This should be fun!" Both of the freelancers faced off. C.T holding her combat knife while Colorado only had one of his old knives out. Instead of waiting like the last fight Colorado rushed forward. Holding the knife in a reversed grip he feinted at his opponent's stomach causing her to lean back and fall into his trap. Sweeping her legs she fell over and felt something at her throat.

"I think that's one point to me" he said grinning beneath his helmet before pulling her up. Now more cautious C.T set up in a more defensive position. Deciding that his previous gamble wouldn't work again he pulled out his second knife and held it in a frontward grip.

Texas and Carolina both began to pay a lot more attention after seeing this. In all the fights they had seen it was very rare to see someone dual wield at all, let alone with any skill.

Going back to the fight It could be seen that it seemed like Colorado was playing with C.T. seemingly dancing around her, occasionally touching her armor in its vital points showing of his skill. When he finished toying with her he attacked properly.

Attacks coming from each direction seemingly interwoven and constantly changing. Pushing C.T against the wall he threw one of his knives at the wall she was backed against. Rushing forward he attacked, hitting her helmet with the back of the knife and then pinning her against the wall holding his knife to her throat.

"I think we are about done here" he said as he backed off.

"WAIT!" Carolina called out jumping up. She walked forward taking C.T's place. With a Nod from the Director she pulled out her Baton and waited for Colorado to be prepared. Deciding on something different he put away his knives surprising everyone and reached behind him pulling out one of his knew weapons. Deciding on a bo-staff he quickly changed the settings. _I will need to adjust this later… it's too slow for quick changes in combat._

Once he was ready they heard F.I.L.L.I.S over the speakers

"**This will be a close combat fight with weapons allowed. 3. 2. 1. Begin"**

Carolina rushed forward using her speed to her advantage attacking quickly she managed to knock Colorado back a few meters before he got his bearings together. When she came at him again he swung the staff around and let it slide out so he was only holding it by the end.

Carolina then discovered how much a staff to the gut hurt. Deciding to pick up her game she began to move faster and faster. The Baton becoming a blur. Deciding on using a spinning heel Kick she turned only and her foot ended up near inches away from where Colorado's Head was seconds before hand. He quickly reach forward and pushed her leg around further causing her to lose balance. Ducking down he swung the staff at her feet knocking her to the ground. He quickly ran towards her and held the staff in front of her.

"We are done here" Colorado

The others somewhat shocked by the fight stayed still for a minute until Agent North Dakota got up for the firefight/precision test. It went smoothly with North just winning the test. Proving that he still was the best Marksmen in the team.

The final Test was a shootout with South, Wash and York against Colorado. The bullets were packed with a foam that solidified on contact. The match went smoothly each time with South's confusion growing. At the end it was Colorado and South as the last two standing.

Colorado had an idea. Quickly switching his armor to that of any other basic armour. He started to run as if confused. Bumping into South he jumped back seemingly scared. "Huh?" she mumbled confused. Bringing her gun up she went to shoot him.

As she was about to shoot she spoke angrily. "This is for interrupting a training session"

Colorado quickly knocked her weapon away before shooting bother her knees.

He pointed his gun at her head before letting his armor return to normal (to everyone's shock) "like I said last night. You need to control your anger. If you had you would have remembered that the door was shut after I arrived" He then shot her.

"**Agent Colorado Wins. Colorado has completed the initiation to a high standard" **F.I.L.L.I.S

"Th th That was you last night!?" Washington asked shocked.

"Don't sweat Wash I have no issue with you guys. To be honest I only came to watch last night. I never expected to actually be a part of the fighting.

There was a silence for a few minutes. "Well I suppose proper introductions are in order…" Colorado began as he took of his helmet and faced everyone. He had Black hair that fell over his face, blue eyes and a small scar on corner of his lip.

"Well I'm Colorado. I was found by the Director in a room full of slaughtered elites. I was believed to be killed there but obviously I'm not dead" he said laughing.

Washington began. "Well I'm Washington but everyone calls me Wash" as he began to point towards the others Colorado spoke before him "Carolina, Texas, North Dakota known as North, York, C.T, Maine"

I got some info about you guys from some of the other soldiers. They looked at him astounded.  
"What? I wanted to know who I was going to be fighting with and working with"

"Where are you from?" Texas asked. His expression darkened. "A planet long since destroyed" he said looking each of them in the eye. "Where I grew up you either died or learn to survive. Death was a part of everyday life. As I grew up I got taken to another place that was no better."

He looked up at everyone daring them to doubt him. With that he walked towards South who had just finished getting her armor cleaned.

"I get that you might be angry at me but think through what I said" he said. "It may seem harsh or cheap what I did. But when you are in a life or death situation you want to be able to think calmly. Not fall to fear, terror, anger, hate…. If you do… you are more likely to die and at that point you will not care who is who. Their race, gender, your feelings towards them. You will only want to survive."

Everyone looked at him in shock including the director and counselor. The emotion he put into his small speech caused everyone to feel like he had actually experienced these emotions and feelings before. After that he walked off.

"I'm going to clean myself up" he said to everyone and walked off.

"Well" York said after a minute's silence. He looked at the director. "Is there anything you can tell us about him?"

The director thought for a few minutes. "I can't say much without Colorado's permission… But as you all know _Colorado_ was a name reserved. What you don't know however is that it was not reserved for him… You all have heard of him, most of you feared him. A long time ago… some of you even worked with him before you became freelancers." He finished with before he left leaving the freelancers lost in thought. After a few minutes they began to separate. Washington, York and North headed to the Showers. When they arrived they saw Colorado as he was getting dressed. As he was putting his shirt on they saw the scars that lined his back and torso. There was also a large burn mark on his shoulder.

"Hey that looks like a plasma shot… You okay?" Colorado froze.

"Ill manage" With that he rushed off.

"I wonder what the hell happened." York said slightly concerned about the damage on the soldier's skin. "well I guess we will find out one day" North said. As they each thought about who Colorado might be.


End file.
